Review/Film; A Fault Line Of His Own Making

By VINCENT CANBY

Published: December 23, 1988

The illegal substance of choice in ''The Boost'' is cocaine, but when first seen, Lenny Brown (James Woods) is so manic he seems to be headed for disaster long before he becomes hooked on drugs.

Lenny is happily married to the beautiful, patient Linda (Sean Young), a paralegal assistant in a Manhattan law firm. Linda pays the bills while Lenny hustles around town looking for a job. Though he's ''a born salesman'' (he says), he comes on so strong that he manages to fast-talk his way out of every opportunity, especially with Ivy League types. Lenny's grasp of reality is tenuous. He leaves someone on the street, saying ''I have to catch a cab,'' then walks directly down the steps to the subway.

The promise of a great future arrives in an offer from a California magnate named Max (Steven Hill). If the Devil lived in California and sold real estate, he would probably look like the genial, blunt-spoken Max. He's a little too heavy, perhaps, but lightly, fashionably tanned and dressed in the perfect taste that has nothing to do with Brooks Brothers. Max sees Lenny's potential as a West Coast operator.

''Southern California real estate never goes bad,'' Max tells his willing disciple. Max installs Lenny and Linda in a pretty, utterly characterless hilltop house (rented by the week), with their own Mercedes (leased by the month). Lenny is an immediate smash. In his first day on the job, selling land mostly for tax-shelter purposes, he makes more money than he did in a year in New York.

''The Boost,'' directed by Harold Becker from Darryl Ponicsan's screenplay, is far better and far more convincing as a picture of a very ephemeral kind of southern California culture than as a demonstration of the psychological and emotional havoc caused by drugs.

The director and the writer obviously know their territory, its manners and the arcane language, which Lenny picks up with ease. Lenny looks around a pool party and announces to Linda, ''The discretionary spending power here is enormous.'' He points out a guest as ''a young guy with 42 car washes and mega-tax problems.''

Lenny can't believe his good fortune, though even he is occasionally surprised by some of the customs. When a client pays $75,000 in cash for a piece of property, he asks the man what business he's in. The answer, ''Leisure activities.''

It's these leisure activities that finally wreck the lives of Lenny and Linda, as well as the movie. A threat by the Government to close tax-shelter loopholes ends the real-estate boom. Lenny, who has bought his own airplane and is speculating in real estate himself, is left high and dry. He is without a job and $700,000 in debt.

When a pal offers him a snort of cocaine to lift his spirits, Lenny accepts. In less time than it takes to buy a bag of popcorn, Linda is also hooked. From that point forward, ''The Boost'' becomes a movie about the awful things that addicted people do to themselves and to one another, whether they drink, sniff or shoot up.

Ms. Young (''No Way Out''), playing it as straight as possible, is effective in a role that's more victim than victimizer. Mr. Woods also is good, though he begins the film on such a hysterical level that he's hard put to achieve new peaks in hysteria when Lenny falls into the abyss. Looking on, at first with amusement, then with chilly distaste, Mr. Hill gives the film's most sophisticated performance as Max, the sort of fellow, one is sure, who will prove to be earthquake-proof, when that day comes.

''The Boost'' opens today at the D. W. Griffith theater. Life in the Fastest Of Lanes THE BOOST, directed by Harold Becker; screenplay by Darryl Ponicsan, based on the book '' 'Ludes'' by Benjamin Stein; director of photography, Howard Atherton; music by Stanley Myers; produced by Daniel H. Blatt; released by Hemdale Film Corporation. At D. W. Griffith, 59th Street east of Third Avenue. Running time: 95 minutes. This film is rated R. Lenny ... James Woods Linda ... Sean Young Joel ... John Kapelos Max ... Steven Hill Rochelle ... Kelle Kerr Ned ... John Rothman Barbara ... Amanda Blake Sheryl ... Grace Zabriskie